Conveyer guard



1952 w. J. E. s. SEIGH ETAL 2,582,508

CONVEYER GUARD 7 Filed Oct. 16, 1948 Patented Jan. 15, 1952 CONVEYERGUARD William J. E. S. Seigh and Delton J. Du Chene, Monroe, Mich.

Application October 16, 1948, Serial No. 54,864

6 Claims.

This invention relates to conveyor guards and is particularly directedto a structure suitable for use with conveyors of the rail type in whichconveyed parts are carried suspended from a track or runner.

At the present time, regulations covering the installation of conveyorsin many States require that wherever articles are carried in a suspendedcondition over a working area, a suitable continuous guard must beprovided to protect against the elevated articles falling from theconveyor. In compliance with such regulations it has been proposed toutilize what amounts to a continuous basket of expanded metal or thelike placed in position to catch any objects that may becomeaccidentally dislodged from the conveyor in its travel. The supports forsuch devices have been welded or otherwise permanently fixed to theconveyor frame or rail and sections of the devices have, in the past,been similarly permanently fastened together. Such structural permanencemakes it very difficult to change conveyor routings or in any other wayto alter any existing installation. The present invention completelyobviates this and many other disadvantages of known structures.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a conveyor guard whichis easily demountable but which may be assembled with sufficientpermanence to provide complete safety for the installation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a conveyor guard in whichassembled'structural shapes may be used for bracing elements and inwhich provision is made for fastening such bracing elements to theconveyor by simple bolts and nuts for ready removability.

Another object of the invention is to provide a conveyor guard in whichthe guard may be readily made to follow angular conveyor paths as whenthe conveyor passes from floor to floor in a building.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description of a preferred form, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings in which- Fig. l. is a perspective view of aconveyor guard embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a section online 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 isa fragmentary detail view of one form of basket reinforcement; and Fig.5 is a fragmentary detail view of one form of basket fastening element,the parts being shown in dotted lines in the position assumed when theconveyor is inclined.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, the guard is shownin conection with a conveyor of the mono-rail type comprising an I-beaml0 fixed to the ceiling of a building in any suitable manner byfastening devices which form no part of the present invention and henceare not disclosed. In the common installation of this character,articles are carried suspended from the lower flanges of the I-beamsection usually by spaced rollers, one on each side of the I-beam web.It is, therefore, necessary to maintain the lower flanges completelyunobstructed so that all supporting elements for the conveyor guard mustbe fastened to the top flange of the beam ID.

The conveyor guard itself comprises a continuous basket [2 formed as achannel of expanded metal or other material sufficiently heavy tosupport any object that may be carried by the con veyor if such objectsshould become accidentally dislodged durin its travel. The basket I2comprises, therefore, a plurality of end-to-end sec tions each havingside walls I 4 extending upwardly from a transverse lower floor I6. Theside walls M may have their upper ends finished by wrapping around steelrods or similar devices or the walls themselves may be left withoutreinforcement at the top. It is preferred to make the floor and bothside walls of the basket from a single piece of material andlongitudinal rigidity for the structure is gained by forming the bendbetween a wall and the floor as indicated in Fig. 4. It will be notedthat the material of the floor is first formed downwardly as at IT andthen. bent sharply upwardly to form the side wall M, which later liesclosely against the down-turned portion 11. The reverse bend thus formedresults in a structure which is highly rigid.

If additional strength against bending is required for the floor, crossbraces 18 in the form of U-shaped rods may be provided at intervals inthe length of the conveyor guard, such rods being fixed in place in anysuitable manner as by small U bolts 20.

The basket is suspended from the rail in by rigid. hanger members 22,welded or otherwise fixed to a connecting top cross piece 24. Thesuspending or hanger members 22 may conveniently be formed of sectionsof angle iron, while the cross piece 24 is preferably of a channelsection although an angle section may be used if its strength issufiicient. The cross piece 24 of the hanger is provided approximatelymid.- way of its length with a T-shaped bracket 26 fixed to the web ofthe channel 24 by bolts 28'.

The central leg of the T-shaped piece 26 extends, therefore,approximately at right angles to the web of channel 24 and is adapted tobe received between rail clamping members 36 at each side. The clampingmembers 30 are held against the central extension of the T-shaped member2% by a bolt 32. The T-shaped member may, if desired, be replaced by asingle fiat metal piece welded at right anglesto the web of channel 24.It will thus be seen that when bolt 32 is drawn up by means of itscooperating nut, the top flange of rail Ill is clamped firmly betweenmembers 3i] and the hanger elements are all fixed rigidly with respectto the rail but are easily demountable in the event that it becomesnecessary to remove the guard for any reason.

As indicated in Fig. 3, the T-shaped connecting member 25 ermits theconveyor guard to follow changes in the angular disposition of the railas when the rail is bent upwardly or downnut is overlying a plate whichserve to clamp the material ofv the basket side wall iii against theupright hanger member 2.2. Plate may be made of any desired extent,aithough it is usually sumcient that its length be made equal to two orthree times the slit length of the expanded metal of which basket 12 isformed.

The adjacent ends of the sections of the hasket l2 may be fixed togetherby simple spanning tie plates it bolted to each end of adjacentsections; If desired, the plates 50 may extend only adjacent the sidewalls i i of the basket, or they may also be made continuous across thebottom it. It will be apparent that simple rectangular plates 5%} may beused where there is no change in the angular disposition of theconveyor, but that triangular plates will become necessary if an up ordown turn is encountered between basket sections. Since the plates aresimple sheet metal elements, such changes may be readily made by anymechanic.

While the invention has been shown in connection with a particular formand disposition of the parts, it should be appreciated that numerousmodifications and changes may be made therein Without departing from thespirit n the structure becomes said joining plates in position, wherebysaid guard may be removed from association with said monorail and saidsections from each other by removal of said several separable fasteners.

2. A guard in accordance with claim 1 in which said end-to-end sectionsare formed of expanded metal through which separable fasteners pass.

3. A guard in accordance with claim 1 in which the means to attach saidhanger bars to the monorail includes engaging clamping members, and apart carried by said hanger bar and received between said clampingmembers and adapted for swinging adjustment relative thereto.

4. A guard for a monorail trolley system or the like. as describedincluding a plurality of end-toend basket sections formed of expandedmetal or the like; said sections each having a bottom, and upstandingside walls connected to the bottom and continuous therewith, theconnection between the sides and bottom. comprising a downturned sectionimmediately adjacent an up turned side wall whereby longitudinalstifiness is imparted to the basket section.

5. A guard for a monorail trolley s stem or the like including amonorail support and means suspending articles from the support railwhile they are conveyed therealong, which comprises a plurality ofbasket sections having a bottom and side walls formed of one continuouspiece of mesh material, joiningplates separably connecting the basketsections end-to-end to form a continuous trough beneath the monorail,and U-shaped hanger bars detachably mounted upon the monorail andattached to opposite sides of a basket section.

6. A guard for a monorail trolley system or the like including amonorail support and means for suspending articles from the support railwhile they are conveyed therealong, which comprises a plurality ofbasket sections having a bottom and side walls formed of one continuouspiece of expanded metal or the like, a reinforcing vertically alignedridge at the juncture of each side wall with the bottom of the basketsection formed by folding the mesh material back upon itself, joiningplates separably connecting the basket sections end-to-end to form acontinuous trough beneath the monorail, U -shaped hanger bars detachablyconnected to either side of a basket section, and means to attach thebars to the support rail to permit swinging justment of the bars.

WILLIAM J. E. S. SEIGH. DELTON J. DU CHENE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 301,871 Drisko July 15, 1,060,566Harvey a- Apr. 29, 1913

